Crystal Asige champions disability rights, inclusive education, and accessible design through policy, advocacy, and her foundation.
When Crystal Asige lost her sight in her early twenties, she thought her world had ended. What she didn’t know was that the condition would sharpen her vision, not of what she could no longer see, but of what Kenya still refused to.
Asige, now a nominated senator in Kenya’s Fourth Senate, is the country’s first visually impaired parliamentarian or, as she proudly calls herself, the “VIP,” the Visually Impaired Parliamentarian. From her seat in Parliament, she’s rewriting how the nation understands ability, inclusion, and leadership.
Life before politics
Born in Mombasa, Crystal Asige was drawn to music, theatre, and the performing arts from an early age. She studied Film Studies and Drama at the University of the West of England in Bristol, UK, where she began noticing her vision fading. Doctors diagnosed her with glaucoma, a progressive eye disease that damages the optic nerve and leads to irreversible blindness. By the age of 24, she had become totally blind. The loss was devastating, but it also became a turning point.
“Glaucoma didn’t take my vision,” she once said. “It gave me a new one.”
That new vision led her from the BBC Bristol studios, where she once worked, back to Kenya, where she transformed her pain into purpose. As a musician, she infused her music with the coastal Chakacha rhythm and a message of inclusion, calling her style “art-ivism” – activism through art. Her songs, public talks, and storytelling broke stereotypes about disability long before she entered government.
In 2022, Asige was nominated to the Senate to represent persons with disabilities and special interest groups. Since then, she has become one of the strongest voices pushing for universal design, accessibility, and equitable representation. As Secretary General of the Kenya Disabled Parliamentarians Association and Chairperson for Persons with Disabilities in the Kenya Women Parliamentary Association, she has helped drive inclusive policy reform. Her advocacy was instrumental in the passage of Kenya’s Persons with Disabilities Act 2025, a landmark law expanding accessibility in education, employment, healthcare, and infrastructure.
Beyond legislation, Asige’s impact is deeply practical. Through the Crystal Asige Foundation, she is building pathways for persons with disabilities to thrive in the future of work. In partnership with the European Business Institute of Luxembourg, the foundation offers full scholarships to PWDs in fields like Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Robotics, Business Administration, Education, and Hospitality.
The 13-week virtual training program launched in 2025 drew thousands of applicants nationwide. Her “Ability Programme” works with special schools across Kenya, celebrating resilience and shifting how society perceives disability.
Furthermore, she leads MapAbility, a program auditing Kenya’s urban spaces for accessibility and equitable mobility, while serving as Vice Chair of the Glaucoma Society of Kenya and a former board member of Amnesty International Kenya. She’s also a sought-after speaker, addressing the United Nations, UN-Habitat, Safaricom, and the One Young World Summit on inclusion, equity, and representation.
She often says her work is powered #ByFaithNotBySight – a philosophy that has become both her motto and her movement. Crystal Asige may have lost her sight. But today, she’s helping an entire country see more clearly.
